<p>Hiiiiii guys
I'm a 16 year old girl from California. I had some family problems in my sophomore year which resulted into really bad grades and i decided to take a test called CHSPE which allowed to me to graduate 2 years early from high school. I'm thinking of applying for NYU tisch for drama. I was wondering if you could pleeeeease guide me and tell me detailed tips for getting accepted. Please i really need it :[ my name's kat by the wayyyyy and please i beg you i just need it really bad so i can show my parents that i'm not affected by their negative remarks because thats what caused me to almost fail my sophomore year. ugh it was terrible. anyways thank you and please :[</p>
<p>I would never dream of discouraging anyone from pursuing a dream, but I hope that you know that Tisch, like all other auditioned BFA programs, is exceedingly competitive, and that the entire application and audition process will be almost impossible if your parents are not “on board” with you. Tisch is one of the largest schools (broken down into individual studios), and so it admits more students than most, but it also receives thousands of applications annually. They have very high academic standards, also, although they will always show a little flexibility in the case of stunningly talented applicants. Your grades and standardized test scores should be very solid, at least. If you want to pursue a degree in theater, you should start researching a lot of different schools, and not get your heart set too intently on one. Even brilliant students, with loads of talent, will probably get some rejections. These programs have acceptance ratios similar to Harvard’s. If your parents aren’t supportive, you will have additional financial and logistical challenges, because you probably will have to make travel arrangements for auditions, and consider the price-tags (NYU is notoriously expensive, and can be pretty stingy with financial aid).</p>
<p>I think it is great that you are already done with high school at 16. You might want to take advantage of the fact that, since you are so young, you can take some extra time, like a year or two, to develop an absolutely AMAZING audition so that you can really compete with the other applicants at the top schools like NYU Tisch. Stagemum is correct that these are very competetive, but if you can focus on this completely, since you don’t have the distractions of high school like the other applicants, maybe you can make it.</p>
<p>If you don’t get in the first time you apply to Tisch, would you be willing to wait a year and try again?</p>
<p>After I dropped out of High School I took the GED, and this was considered the equivalent of a High School diploma by the universities I applied to. I did eventually get a BA (with honors) in Theatre, then went on to Law School and became a lawyer. I do not regret dropping out of high school.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of the CHSPE. Is it the equivalent of a High School diploma, like the GED? You are pretty much going to need something equivalent to a High School diploma to apply to colleges, although there are one or two colleges in the U.S. that do not have this requirement.</p>
<p>Kat, I don’t think you are going to find happiness trying to please or impress your parents. Live your life for yourself. Go to college if that is what is going to help you get the life that YOU want.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>Passing the CHSPE is not the same thing as completing all of the course work typically required for regular high school graduation so contact the admissions office of NYU and find out the admission requirements including whether or not the California High School Proficiency Certificate will be sufficient for admission. In some cases you may have to take SATs or SAT IIs to satisfy admission requirements, or attend community college and then transfer to the school of your choice.</p>
<p>Kat, is anyone helping you figure out how to get yourself into college? You are welcome to ask our advice all you want - this is a great place to learn what to do and how to organize yourself. No one here can give you the secret answer to getting in anywhere, of course. But we can help you make sure you do what you need to do, get the information you need, and make thoughtful decisions based on your personal goals.</p>
<p>We’re going to assume that your plan is to attend college for theatre, and that you realize there are costs involved in both applying and attending. What you - and anyone who is helping you - will need to do is decide what you want in a program, and research schools based on your interests and needs (including financial). Auditioned theatre programs have VERY low acceptance rates, and if you absolutely want to be in college for theatre next year, you will want to have a list of schools that include schools where you know you will be accepted academically (based on their admissions stats) that do not require an audition, and that are affordable. Then you can have slightly harder schools to get into, and also some “reach” schools that you are aware you might get rejected from but that you love anyway. </p>
<p>NYU is pretty much always in the “reach” category for everyone, so you can think about what you love about NYU and find other schools that would give you a similar experience, that are easier to get into. If it’s just because NYU is well-known and getting in would prove something to your folks, I’ll tell you as some others have that you need to broaden your thinking, for all of the same reasons. There are hundreds of schools where you can study theatre and have a great career. But they vary a lot, so it would be helpful for us to know what exactly appeals to you - location, size, program, etc.</p>
<p>Also, you are in a unique situation academically, and you’ll need to find out where you stand for making applications. Many colleges require that you have taken a certain number of classes in various subjects, and most require placement tests like SAT and ACT (although there are many that don’t). You’ll have to get organized about getting some of these taken care of in time to make application deadlines this year.</p>
<p>For BFA programs as you probably know, you also have to prepare audition material and figure out how you will go to auditions - either on campus, at Unified Auditions (which likely have locations near you), or through DVDs. Every school has different audition requirements, so you’ll have to keep track of that, too. </p>
<p>You can do this - I can imagine that you might need another year to have everything in place, or to prepare successfully for auditions, but if you find the right schools to apply to and put in a lot of effort (and have some good supports) you’ll be in college next fall. Please let us know what we can do to help you. Good luck!</p>
<p>Under California Law, a CHSPE is equivalent to a High School Diploma. It seems to me that that makes it just like a GED (which I have). Some websites I have visited say you have to be 18 to take the GED, but I found some loophole and took it when I was 17.</p>
<p>I took a GED when I was 17, and now I argue felony cases in front of juries.</p>
<p>I don’t know how a college/university can say “This CHSPE isn’t as good as a High School Diploma”. They can’t do that with a GED. If they can do that with a CHSPE, then maybe Kat should consider taking the GED as well. But yes, she probably will have to do all the other things that folks with High School Diplomas have to do, like SAT and ACT.</p>
<p>Some schools may have age requirements for admission. Kat may be too young.</p>
<p>And there really are one or two schools that don’t require High School diplomas. (Maybe my information is out of date)</p>
<p>I think there is some bias here against people like me and Kat, who take exams instead of doing it the way you folks expect the “good students” to do. But then we find that it is often the folks like me and Kat that do better on auditions, better than all those good, well-behaved kids.</p>
<p>I don’t know if Kat feels as though she HAS to go to college next year. I don’t know why she would. She is still very young, and college isn’t going anywhere. She can take some time to really work hard on getting into her dream college, and can even take another year or so if she doesn’t get in on her first attempt.</p>
<p>I’m just trying to make sure Kat understands all her options. Obviously, she has to pick for herself which is going to best for her.</p>
<p>I think everyone who is posting here is remarking that Kat might want or need another year or two to know what she wants and be ready for college (if that IS what she wants).</p>
<p>Please remember that this is a college advice board - people answering questions are going to go with the idea that the person asking has the intention of going to college. I’m sure there are general theatre career-type boards where people will talk more broadly about options.</p>
<p>We talk here all the time about BA vs. BFA vs. MFA vs. training programs vs. learning through experience vs. not studying theatre formally at all. I think we’re pretty open minded. When someone asks for help on how to get into college, we’re going to lead with those kinds of answers. </p>
<p>Kat is already going to spend this next academic year either not in school or getting classes she needs at a CC or online. She’ll only be one year young if she does enter school next fall. And if there is yet another gap year, it’s all for the good - as we feel with any of our kids in this process.</p>
<p>If you go other places on CC I think you’ll realize that this is one of the MOST open-minded forums when it comes to where, how - or whether - to go to college.</p>
<p>I’m going to step in as the parent of some non-traditionally schooled kids and say that I know of many students who have gone on to all kinds of college experiences (including Ivies, elite BFA programs, top music conservatories, and LACs) without completing a traditional high school diploma.This was a less common route in 2004 when my oldest daughter entered Swarthmore at 17 without a high school diploma, not having been to “school” since age 11, and having turned down numerous other offers, including two Ivies. It’s a lot more common now. </p>
<p>The CHSPE or GED isn’t the issue so much as the resume of the student. Most of the students I know that come from non-traditional educational backgrounds (but not all) have significant parental support in their quest. They also tend to either have standardized test scores or other resume material to back them up, and if they are applying to an auditioned program, they have a great audition (which often requires parental involvement. In this regard, acting is a lot easier than music.) </p>
<p>If Kat truly “almost falied” sophomore year and wants to apply to a school (like NYU) that will look seriously at her academic record, she will need to demonstrate a strong upward trend for improvement (so she will be seen as capable of doing NYU’s academic work.) She will need to show some kind of standardize test score that will place her within NYU’s range (NYU is unusually flexible about what scores to show.) She will need great essays on her application. And she will need a great audition. She will also need some kind of financial support to put all this together. Unfortunately, it may be too tall an order for a 17-year-old whose parents are not behind her.</p>
<p>If it’s too tall an order for a 17-year old, all she needs to do is wait until she is old enough that it is not too tall an order.</p>
<p>But I do think Kat should consider looking at colleges and other programs that emphasize the audition instead of academic records.</p>
<p>I’m sure she can do it all. It will take a LOT of work, and she has to be careful not to get distracted, but I am sure she can get there eventually.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>okay this is sooooooooo much information, i read it all! 
so here’s the thing. they are dissapointed cause of the sophomore year, but they are willing to do anything and everything for me to get into nyu by next fall. the thing is im not sure about my major anymore. But! I am taking my act this month on the 27th, hopefully i get a very good score to show them that it was just my sophomore year that i was suffering and i promise i will only improve more and more now. i did email nyu and asked them if they would admit me with a bad gpa and i took the chspe. he told me they would if i wrote something extra for them like an essay explaining why my grades fell and what caused me to opt for chspe. if i can convince them, then they’re could also be chances. he also said bad grades will be a part of the application but there are chances that we will still accept you if you give reasonable explanations. im thinking i should pour my heart out. or not?
oh and chspe is equivalent to a high school diploma</p>
<p>and i really want to get into nyu. it’s my own desire since freshman year and then i started failing myself in sophomore i was kinda heartbroken that i might not get to my dream college. and now i think i have a chance i just really wanna give it all to get in.</p>
<p>kat, I really wish you well, and I think you’re doing everything you can to move on from your past problems.</p>
<p>This is said many times on CC, but I’m going to say it again: It’s wonderful to have a dream school, but you will not be failing anyone, including yourself, if you don’t get in or if you change you mind and go somewhere else. Any school that has very low admission rates is going to reject a lot of very capable and deserving people, and no one should take it personally. I worry that if you see getting into NYU specifically as proof that you have turned things around, that a rejection might send you back to thinking you are a “loser,” or believing your parents will think you are. None of this will be true - the work you put in to get yourself on a positive track, to go to college, to feel productive and successful, will be valuable whatever school you go to.</p>
<p>If you are thinking of going to NYU as a non-theatre major, then your application will be more straight-forward. If you do plan to audition, please know that there is not one thing AT ALL that you can do to “make sure” this will happen. </p>
<p>Practically everyone here has known kids who decided long ago that NYU is “the place to be” - either because of its reputation in the theatre world, or because it’s an exciting city in the middle of Manhattan. Absolutely do everything you can to get in - many, many students do this for their favorite schools. But please also find a few other schools that are similar to NYU (in a city, big, exciting, whatever it is about NYU that you love) and apply to them, too. You can be happy and successful at countless colleges. Please don’t set yourself up to feeling a failure, because you will NOT be one if for some reason NYU doesn’t have a spot for you.</p>
<p>We would say this to anyone who has their mind set on a super-selective, expensive school. It’s not personal! </p>
<p>PS - I know a young woman (not a theatre major) who dreamed of NYU since she saw it on a family trip as a little girl. She did get in, but at the time her parents couldn’t afford it, and she decided she couldn’t take on the debt herself. She went to our (excellent) state flagship, but still felt disappointed well into her second year. Then everything clicked, and she told me she wouldn’t trade the experience there for anything in the world. Now she is finishing grad school at her next “dream school” (not NYU, as it happens) on a full scholarship. Life does go on!</p>
<p>Yes, if there’s one thing to be particularly careful about when you’re 17-- it’s the fact that your mind will change a lot through the next few years, and what seems to be your heart’s desire now may not be in a few months. Apply to a group of schools that fit your interests and hopes, so you have some choices in the spring. Several of D’s friends were determined to go to college far from home-- but when the time came they realized they didn’t really want all that distance. New York is a great place and NYU a great University…but there are plenty of others, too.</p>
<p>As a parent of a student at Tisch: I agree completely with all the posts above. Don’t have one dream school and don’t think that Tisch or NYU or NYC is the only place to be. It isn’t. It’s great, but so are alot of other places. It has its pluses and minuses as do other places. </p>
<p>The best thing you can do for yourself is to have a plan that gives you options.</p>
<p>PLEASE PAY GREAT ATTENTION TO POSTS #12, #13, AND #14!! Truly this is the BEST advice for you or anyone applying to such selective schools!</p>
<p>Katt - My son also thought that NYU/Tisch was his “dream” school, from seventh grade onward. He did not even apply there, ultimately, for a variety of reasons. The attributes that made it attractive are also available a a huge array of schools, with a range of acceptance rates: DePaul, Emerson, Carnegie-Mellon, BU, UArts, Point Park, CCPA/Roosevelt, Marymount Manhattan, Pace, UMinnesota-Guthrie, Columbia College Chicago, and Cornish are all located in cities with vibrant arts and theater scenes. Many, many other colleges have excellent theater programs, with opportunities available in top-notch regional theater scenes. If your academic record is rocky, it is even more important to cast a wide net instead of setting your heart too intently on one school. Are you currently involved in any community theater groups? Is it possible for you to register for some classes at a community college? I think it’s crucial for you to demonstrate commitment and desire to grow artistically and academically at this point. Schools are willing to forgive some bumps in the road, if you appear to be moving forward. If you don’t have many theatrical opportunities, consider taking some writing classes. There are some very good ones available on-line, that could help you develop confidence for the essays and applications that carry extra weight for students with non-traditional secondary educations.</p>